Plot Synopsis

Sixteen amateur home cooks from across America compete in a series of elimination culinary challenges, as they vie for a $50,000 cash prize. Hosted by Ted Allen, AMERICA'S BEST COOKS divides the cheftestants into four geographic teams -- South, West, East and North -- each mentored by Cat Cora, Tyler Florence, Alex Guarnaschelli and Michael Symon, respectively. The series opens with a timed culinary challenge where the 16 cooks are divided into groups of four, based on the geographic region they represent, and they compete for coveted positions on the mentor's teams. Following the challenge, each mentor tastes the dishes of four hopeful cooks and chooses the two for their team that they believe will lead them to victory. After teams are selected in the first episode, the next four episodes each include two challenges: a Group Challenge, where the remaining cooks must give it their all to impress the rotating guest judge, who decides which four chefs are at risk of being eliminated; and the Pressure Cooker, where the bottom four cooks prepare dishes that are judged again by the guest judge who then determines who is safe for another week and which chef goes home. In the sixth and final episode, the four remaining chefs compete in three single elimination rounds until one cook is left standing as America's Best Cook. Guest judges include Anne Burrell, Bobby Flay, Ron Ben-Israel, Marcel Vigneron and Geoffrey Zakarian.